olio n. (OH-lee-oh): a miscellaneous mixture; a hodgepodge

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Women, Sex, and “Fifty Shades of Grey”

Okay so I confess. A few weeks ago I finished reading “Fifty Shades of Grey” by E L James. It has me wondering about women and sex and why there is such an interest in this book? Romance novels have been around forever, so what makes Fifty Shades so different? Is it the fan lit? That the characters were featured based on the characters from the Twilight Trilogy? Or, does it say something more about the type of literature on sex that women want to read? Does it say anything about what women feel is lacking in their lives?

Another confession. I never read the Twilight Trilogy. Yes, can you believe it? I am not a fantasy book reader. I also really do not like reading what everyone else is reading. I did not read Harry Potter. Lord of the Rings. The list goes on. For some reason, though, I wanted to find out about this Fifty Shades following. I had heard about it from too many people. What interested me the most was about women, sex, and what they want or crave. I loved hearing that women would tell me they would read excerpts to their boyfriends or spouses. What were they reading to them? What made them want to read a specific excerpt? Why?

I have mentioned before that I am a bit of a feminazi (or can be on certain subjects). So you can imagine that I would not be into the subordination of women, or of women being submissive. So I thought I would adamantly hate this book. But, shockingly I did not hate it. I will say that I agree with many that the writing was horrid, and yet even with the bad writing I wanted to know what would happen. I was curious while reading what parts interested other women. I had also heard that many women were hiding the book from their husbands. Why were they hiding it? That part shocks me. It is 2012. We should live in a place where a woman should not have to hide what interests her, or what she wants to read from her husband. It reminds me of a little boy hiding a Playboy.

So what does this all say about women’s sexuality? What are they missing in their lives? What have they not told their husband they want and what do they crave sexually? My only conclusion is that in general women must feel they have to fit this specific mold that says that women should not be like Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall’s character from Sex in the City). That we must be more tame about what we want sexually. What do you think?

Last confession. I got the second book. Because. Well, because I am curious about what happens next.